Blessed Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos

Isabel Cristina Mrad Campos was born on 29 July 1962 at Barbacena in Minas Gerais, Brazil, into a family of modest means. From childhood she frequented her parish church. She belonged to the youth group of the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, where a spiritual director passed on to her the spirituality of the Cursillos and of the Vincentians; she often visited the Monastery of the Visitation, prayed with her family, confessed regularly and took part in the Vincentian campaigns. Her dream was to become a paediatrician. After finishing school she obtained her teaching diploma on 8 December 1980, and moved to Juiz de Fora to begin the study of medicine, living with her brother in a house the family had bought.

The family had engaged a firm to furnish it, and the workman sent, Maurílio Almeida Oliveira, unsettled her by his intrusive manner, so much so that she stayed at prayer the whole time he was assembling the furniture, as she told her family and friends. Two days later, on the afternoon of 1 September 1982, he returned knowing she was alone, forced his way in and attacked her. She resisted, and the autopsy found that her virginity had been preserved. Her brother found her that evening.